A CHILD abuse victim who helped nail her pervert uncle by writing an unsent letter to a teen mag’s problem page has spoken about her long fight for justice.

Brave Helen Cowan gave up her legal right to anonymity to give her first interview about the hell rapist John Robertson put her through.

He’s now serving 12 years for tormenting her and three other victims. And Helen, 26, said: “When I heard he had been found guilty, I wept with joy and relief.

“No amount of time will make up for what he took away, but now he will lose years of his life like the ones he took from me.

“Now I have seen justice done, I feel I can close that chapter in my life.

“I have a good family who have supported me through everything. I’m looking to the future.”

Robertson began preying on Helen when she was seven, at her gran’s farm near Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire. He called her his favourite niece and let her sleep in his room, then callously abused her year after year.

By the time Helen was 14, she was at the end of her tether. All she could think to do was confide in the agony aunt at More magazine.

She wrote: “For the last seven years John Robertson has sexually abused me. I’m ashamed and embarrassed. Can you help?”

It was a desperate child’s cry fror help – a letter written in secret and never sent. But in the end, it helped make sure Helen and Robertson both got the justice they deserved.

Rapist John Robertson denied his guilt (Image: Pressteam Scotland)

Helen’s parents, alarmed by how withdrawn she had become, searched her room and found the note.

She recalled: “I came home from school and they confronted me about it and I burst into tears, admitting it was true. It divided my entire family.”

Robertson escaped justice at that point. Police decided there was not enough evidence to charge him. Helen had to cope for years with the fact her tormentor was going unpunished.

Then, in 2011, three other victims came forward.

But brazen Robertson continued to deny his guilt. And Helen knew, despite her fears, that she would have to face him and her demons again.

She said: “I was terrified of dragging up the past but I knew I had to speak out so I could finally get justice.

“I was so nervous in court. But when they asked if I wanted to sit behind a screen, I said no. I wanted to face him.

“For the first time in years I looked him straight in the eye and thought, ‘You took so much away from me. You deserve to be punished.’”

Jurors convicted Robertson of repeatedly raping Helen and another girl and abusing two others over 12 years. Judge Michael O’Grady QC told him it was “an appalling course of conduct”.